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Research Prize Winners 2009 Winners
Paper Description John Cowles set out to examine the relationship between militant students and workers during the May 1968 Paris Uprising. He characterizes this relationship as “the most complicated and understudied element” of the event. Mr. Cowles applies “Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of the carnivalesque to help understand the inversion of class-specific values and identities implied in the political language of student and worker participants.” He concludes that the May 1968 upheaval created a brief “radical ceremonial space.” Within this space, which he describes as a “unique and short-lived mental world,” the students were able “to marry their criticisms of the university system to the demands of workers for increased control at the workplace and a democratization of unions.” Essay on the Research Process and Use of the Library Mr. Cowles used a rich and diverse collection of resources when conducting his research. He consulted books at the Leatherby Libraries on French labor history, French New Left theory, and Charles de Gaulle. He used book reviews from JSTOR and Project Muse to evaluate sources. Mr. Cowles stated that his attendance at a library research instruction session helped him refine his research skills and “learn how to intelligently sort through large quantities of information.” After watching the librarian demonstrate how to search for materials at other libraries through the WorldCat database, the Leatherby Libraries became a portal for resources beyond the Chapman campus. He used interlibrary loan services extensively to request materials from other libraries. Mr. Cowles’ research also took him to France where his research was funded by a Faculty-Sponsored Student Scholarly/Creative Grant through the Office of the Chancellor. He studied microfiche records of student political leaflets and out-of-print periodicals published by labor organizations at the national archives in Paris. He further viewed television broadcasts and listened to radio news reports of the student protests and labor strikes of 1968. At the University of Paris, he discovered rare documentary footage of worker-occupied factory strikes. He also located three boxes of pamphlets that were composed by student activists and disseminated to workers. He calls this pamphlet collection his “greatest discovery.” Mr. Cowles has found that communication and persistence are the key principles for conducting successful research.
Paper Description Brittany Columbus researched the periodical Bean na h-Eireann, which is often credited as “being the first nationalist-feminist paper of Ireland.” Ms. Columbus, however, asserts that scholars labeling Bean na h-Eireann as feminist have been mistaken. Her analysis of the publication revealed articles that lacked “any feminist agenda and instead kept Irish women in their pre-established realms of domesticity.” Essay on the Research Process and Use of the Library Ms. Columbus attended several library research instruction sessions while completing her senior thesis. During a research consultation with a librarian, she honed her search techniques. With the librarian’s help, she discovered the female branch of the IRA, which led to the discovery of the key resource in her research: the Irish periodical Bean na h-Eireann. Over the duration of her research, Ms. Columbus received assistance from librarians on navigating several online resources, including British and Irish Women’s Letters and Diaries, In the First Person, and JSTOR. She further utilized the Dissertations and Theses database and EBSCO databases. She received a number of articles and books through interlibrary loan. Ms. Columbus’ investigation ultimately extended beyond the Leatherby Libraries to libraries at three University of California campuses, the National Library of Ireland, and Boston University. She discovered library staff have a “passion for research” and a willingness to assist that Ms. Columbus suggests should be utilized when help is needed.
Paper Description Hailey Giczy’s paper examines “a little known policy implemented by the Los Angeles Police Department under Police Chief James Davis in February 1936 to keep migrants out of California with a border patrol and to deport migrants already inside California to other states.” She manipulates Frederick Jackson Turner’s “frontier” argument “which described American history as being characterized by civilization advancing on the savage frontier.” Ms. Giczy cleverly manipulates Turner’s argument and claims in Los Angeles in the 1930s the perception was that “the ‘savage’ encroachment of migrants onto the ‘civilized’ community” was occurring. Such an encroachment, she states, was viewed as detrimental to the “wealthy and culturally advanced ‘imagined community’” of Los Angeles. Ms. Giczy used books from the Leatherby Libraries on California history to develop her “theoretical foundation and historical framework.” She sought out book indexes, bibliographies, and book reviews from JSTOR as part of her information-seeking process. Ms. Giczy located many of her primary and secondary sources through online databases, including the ProQuest Los Angeles Times Historical database. She also used the print and electronic versions of the Readers Guide to Periodical Literature to locate magazine articles. She received instruction from library staff on use of the microfilm machines and scanners. During a research consultation with a librarian, Ms. Giczy was made aware of the Los Angeles City Records Center, which led her to conduct extensive archival research. She concluded, “From this project, I realized the most valuable resources in a library are its librarians.”
Paper Description Kyle Nellesen researched the experiences of pilots during World War I through correspondence and memoirs. The public perception of pilots at the time was one of romance, chivalry, and fair play. Mr. Nellesen’s review of first-person accounts, however, found the pilots told a much different story of danger and the “risks of combat.” He argues that the public’s perception of fighter pilots in the World War I era, a view “formed primarily by media coverage and propaganda,” is in contrast with the actual experiences of the pilots. Essay on the Research Process and Use of the Library Mr. Nellesen reported the use of various resources, such as books, magazine articles, dissertations, and Websites. He requested and obtained numerous items, including rare books, from other libraries through interlibrary loan. Mr. Nellesen attended library research instruction sessions with librarians Julie Artman and Stacy Russo. During a research consultation with Artman, she helped him locate the transcripts of an interview with an American pilot. He found this interview to be “integral” to his “understanding of pilot training during World War I.” Mr. Nellesen also met with librarian Randolph Boyd who supplied him with information on databases and Internet sites. He concluded, “The research strategies that I learned for this project are things that I will definitely use in the future.” He further stated that the “project has taught me how much work goes into research and how many people are involved in making it possible.” Congratulations to the 2009 winners! Click here to view last year's winners
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